Amanda Smyth esplora gli intricati legami tra storia, memoria e identità, concentrandosi spesso sulla vita insulare e sui temi postcoloniali. La sua prosa è caratterizzata da una ricchezza sensoriale e da una qualità lirica che attira i lettori in mondi vividamente rappresentati. Attraverso un'acuta analisi delle relazioni umane e del potere del luogo, Smyth crea narrazioni che sono al contempo profondamente personali e universalmente risonanti. La sua capacità di catturare le sfumature dell'esperienza umana rende la sua scrittura avvincente e memorabile.
Exploring the complexities of human emotions, the narrative delves into how desire influences decisions and priorities mold life paths. It highlights the transformative power of love, illustrating how it can both unite and ultimately fracture relationships. Through the characters’ journeys, the story examines the delicate balance between personal desires and the impact of love, revealing the intricate dynamics of connection and heartbreak.
The story explores the dynamics of friendship as Sirus struggles with feelings of exclusion when his best friend Bubba befriends a newcomer, Charlie Sand. Set in Trinidad, it captures the essence of childhood relationships and the challenges of sharing friends. Aimed at children aged six to ten, the narrative is enriched with themes of acceptance and emotional growth. Accompanied by charming illustrations, it offers a warm and magical tale that resonates with young readers, encouraging them to navigate the complexities of friendship.
Eddie Wade has recently returned from the US oilfields. He is determined to sink his own well and make his fortune in the 1920s Trinidad oil-rush. His sights are set on Sonny Chatterjee's failing cocoa estate, Kushi, where the ground is so full of oil you can put a stick in the ground and see it bubble up. When a fortuitous meeting with businessman Tito Fernandez brings Eddie the investor he desperately needs, the three men enter into a partnership. A friendship between Tito and Eddie begins that will change their lives forever, not least when the oil starts gushing. But their partnership also brings Eddie into contact with Ada, Tito's beautiful wife, and as much as they try, they cannot avoid the attraction they feel for each other. Fortune, based on true events, catches Trinidad at a moment of historical change whose consequences reverberate down to present concerns with climate change and environmental destruction. As a story of love and ambition, its focus is on individuals so enmeshed in their desires that they blindly enter the territory of classic Greek tragedy where actions always have consequences.
Das Waisenmädchen Celia wächst im Haus ihrer Tante Tassi in der Karibik auf, zusammen mit ihren Kusinen und Tassis zweitem Mann Roman. Jeder im Dorf weiß, dass Roman nichts taugt. Für Celia ist er schlicht der Teufel. Um seinen Nachstellungen zu entfliehen, nimmt sie eines nachts all ihren Mut zusammen und setzt - nicht wissend, was sie erwartet - mit dem Schiff über nach Trinidad. In dem imposanten Kolonialhaus eines Arztes findet sie Anstellung als Hausmädchen. Endlich scheint für sie ein neues, aufregendes Leben zu beginnen.
"Une âme s'en vient, une autre s'en va", disait souvent tante Tassi, quand elle expliquait à la belle Celia que sa mère était morte en lui donnant le jour. Elle l'avait recueillie, et élevée auprès de ses deux filles, Vera et Violet, et de son second mari, Roman. Roman était pour Celia le diable en personne. Un être pernicieux, misérable et détestable ; une brute alcoolique, doublé d'un coureur de jupons. Elle aurait aimé se tromper, mais, le jour où elle devient femme, il commit l'irréparable et lui fit découvrir l'enfer. Le soir même, ne pouvant s'imaginer dormir une nuit de plus sous le toit de cet infâme personnage, elle s'enfuit du village de Black Rock à Tobago et entama, sans le savoir, un bouleversant voyage intérieur, celui vers l'âge adulte. D'une plume intense et subtile, Amanda Smyth signe avec Black rock un premier roman aussi luxuriant que les paysages caraïbéens traversés par son héroïne.